US3125827A - ostrander - Google Patents

Description

R. K. OSTRANDER AIR ACTUATED ANIMATED DOLL March 24, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 17, 1961 March 24, 1964 R. K. OSTRANDER AIR ACTUATED ANIMATED DOLL ZSheets-Sheet' Filed April 17, 1961 United States Patent 3,125,827 Am ACTUATED ANIMATED DOLL Robert K. Ostrander, 497 Prospect St., Maplewood, NJ. Filed Apr. 17, 1961, Ser. No. 103,556 2 Claims. (Cl. 46-120) This invention relates to air actuated animated dolls.

It is an object of my invention to provide an air actuated animated doll in which the energizing air is supplied by a device that is readily and fully uncouplable from the doll so that said device is not permanently connected to the doll by means, as for example external visible tubing, which is aesthetically unattractive and plainly demonstrates the artificial method of actuation.

It is another object of my invention to provide an air actuated animated doll of the character described in which the device for supplying air for actuation of the doll is constituted by an accessory that a child normally associates with a doll, although not for the purpose of actuation.

It is another object of my invention to provide an air actuated animated doll of the character described having a natural humanoid movement of the limbs when actuated.

t is another object of my invention to provide an air actuated animated doll of the character described in which the actuating mechanism is reliable, rugged and foolproof so that rough handling by a child will not interfere with its efiicieney.

It is another object of my invention to provide an air actuated animated doll of the character described which can not be actuated accidentally so that the actuation always must be deliberate and with the use of a special device for providing air pressure.

It is another object of my invention to provide an air actuated animated doll of the character described in which the actuation is achieved by what appears to be a normal manipulation of the doll that is not connected in a childs mind with mechanical actuation, to wit, pseudo-feeding of a liquid to the doll through its mouth although actually no liquid is being imbibed.

It is another object of my invention to provide an air actuated animated doll of the character described which provides a mechanical actuation wherein the limbs experience slight random motions during and after termination of the mechanical actuation so as to resemble the fumbling movements of an infant or a very young child and thereby heighten the humanoid resemblance.

It is another object of my invention to provide an air actuated animated doll of the character described in which the actuating mechanism constitutes few and relatively simple parts, is inexpensive to make and easy to install.

It is another object of my invention to provide an air actuated animated doll of the character described in which the actuating mechanism does not interfere with the normal handling of the doll as, for example, swinging movement of its feet from a standing to a sitting position.

It is another object of my invention to provide an air actuated animated doll of the character described which can be actuated with the head in various positions so that a child at play with the doll can actuate the limbs thereof by apparently feeding liquid to the doll with the mouth facing upwardly or to one side.

It is another object of my invention to provide an air actuated animated doll of the character described in which the desired air actuated animation is provided with the dolls thighs angled to the body in a realistically humanoid manner.

It is another object of my invention to provide an air actuated animated doll of the character described in which a particularly good coupling seal is effected 3,125,827 Patented Mar. 24, 1964 ice between the dolls mouth and the device for supplying air under pressure to the doll so that maximum action can be secured with a minimum of effort.

Other objects of my invention in part will be obvious and in part will be pointed out hereinafter.

My invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the doll hereinafter described, and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of my invention,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a doll constructed in accordance with my invention, the same being shown in supine position with the head turned to one side and with a pseudo-nursing bottle for supplying air under pressure applied to its mouth, the dot-and-dash line illustrations of the limbs indicating the positions of such limbs when the doll is actuated by squeezing the bottle;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal central sectional view through the dolls torso and illustrating the idle position of the actuating mechanism;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing the actuating mechanism in operated position;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the actuating mechanism as it appears when removed from the dolls torso, one of the pelvis ends of the leg being illustrated in an exploded position with respect to said mechanism;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view through a hip joint of the doll shown in the preceding figures; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view through the mouth of said doll and illustrating the bottle in detachably coupled relationship therewith.

In general I carry out the several objects of my invention by providing an air actuated prime mover, such for example as a bladder, located within the hollow body of the doll, preferably inside the torso. The bladder is connected, as by a conduit likewise located within the dolls body, to an externally disposed socket, preferably the mouth of the doll. A kinematic train, that is to say a mechanical linkage, interconnects the prime mover with one or more, usually all four, limbs of the doll. Said train in the preferred form of my invention includes a spring which is light enough to be noticeably flexed by the gravity torque exerted by any one of the limbs whereby after the limbs have been moved, as by actuation of the prime mover, they will not immediately come to rest in a new position but will experience a limited, that is to say slight, excursion or, in other words, quiver before coming to rest, so as to simulate the vague uncoordinated motions of a very young child.

Moreover, there is provided as an effective and necessary accessory of said doll, a flexible self-form-maintaining resilient open-mouthed vessel having a hollow plug, i.e. nipple, which is adapted to be detachably sealingly coupled with the socket in the doll whereby when the nipple is coupled with the socket and the vessel is squeezed the air pressure generated within the vessel will be transmitted to the prime mover to actuate the same and thereby move, i.e. oscillate, the limbs of the doll. Preferably, the squeezable vessel has a volumetric capacity in the order of or greater than the inflated, i.e. distended, but unstretched, volumetric capacity of the prime mover so that even if there is some slight loss of air there will be little or no difiiculty in securing excellent actuation of the dolls limbs.

Furthermore, in the preferred form of my invention the weight of the limbs desirable is made small, e.g. by blow molding the limbs, and by utilizing bearings between the limbs and the dolls torso that are arranged to have low coefiicients of friction, whereby even the slight strength of a young child is sufficient to enable the vessel to be squeezed enough to animate the limbs of the doll.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the reference numeral denotes an animated doll constructed in accordance with my invention. Said doll includes a standard hollow torso 12 which conventionally is molded, e.g. cast of a hard material, or injection molded from a synthetic plastic material, or dip molded e.g. with an elastomeric material or slush or centrifugal molded e.g. with a plastisol. Preferably, a torso of a doll embodying my invention is made of a material which is such or is made to a thickness sufiiciently great that the torso will be at least semi-rigid inasmuch as it has to provide a limb bearing, as soon will be seen, and in addition must provide a reaction member for the air actuated prime mover. Moreover the torso preferably is light and is made and configured to provide as little friction as possible (without the use of a bearing insert) at the shoulders and hip pivot points for the arms and legs. Therefore, desirably the torso is rather stiff and thin and may be molded of any somewhat rigid synthetic plastic, e.g. polyethylene or a high impact resin such as butadiene modified styrene copolymer. It will be appreciated that such doll torsos are conventional.

The torso additionally includes a pair of arm openings (not shown) and a pair of leg openings 14. The torso further includes a neck 16 having a neck opening 18. The neck has an external flange 2'0. All such openings and said flange are customarily present in a dolls torso having articulated limbs and a rotatable head.

The doll further includes a pair of hollow legs 22 and a pair of hollow arms 24. The configuration of the legs and arms is conventional in shape, the same being dictated by public demand and the designers skill. Each limb has a proximal portion which I shall designate a head, and which is located within the body. Thus there is a head 28 for each arm and a head 30 for each leg. Each head constitutes a wall that caps (closes) the proximal end of the limb. Between the head and the external portion of each limb the limb is formed to include, as is usual, an annular groove 32 which is rotatable within the corresponding arm or leg opening 14. It may be mentioned that each leg opening 14 lies in a plane which is inclined to the longitudinal axis of the doll and also to a line perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the doll. For example, the planes of said leg openings are about 45 to the longitudinal axis of the doll and also may be tilted forwardly. This is a conventional orientation for said leg openings in the pelvis of an articulated doll, the openings being disposed in the fashion just described in order to allow the legs to swing in a realistic fashion from a standing to sitting position. Thus the legs are close together when the doll is standing and are spread apart when the doll is in a sitting attitude. I have mentioned this arrangement of the legs not because it is novel in the doll forming the subject of my invention but because I wish it to be noted that I am animating a conventional desirable type of shoulder and hip articulated doll.

For a reason which later will be apparent, the head end of each arm and each leg is closed, i.e. comprises a capping wall 34.

As I have mentioned earlier, it is desirable to keep the arms and legs light and for this purpose I may fabricate them by blow mold molding so that their wall thicknesses are slight, although not so slight as to lose rigidity. Moreover I preferably use a material for the arms and legs which is comparatively slick, i.e. has a low coefficient of friction, in order to allow the legs and arms to be turned in their respective openings by a relatively low torque. For this purpose said legs and arms may be made of polyethylene. To the same end (minimization of journal friction), I provide a liberal clearance between the arm and leg openings and the annular grooves 32, as can be seen. in FIG. 5, so that there is a loose fit at these points that facilitates ease of rotation of the arms and legs.

The animated doll 10 further includes a hollow head 36 which, in general, is of standard construction. Said head is provided with a bottom opening which fits around the neck 16 of the torso and is held in position by the flange 20 thereby enabling the head to be rotated from side to side. Except for one feature which will be pointed out, the head is of any conventional construction, design and appearance and may include, for instance, hair, eyelids, nose, mouth and eyes, movable eyes if desired.

I direct attention particularly to the mouth 38 which in accordance with the present invention departs from the standard shape. Said mouth includes a pair of parted lips 40 which between them define an externally accessible cavity or socket 42 to which reference has been made earlier. Desirably, the head 36 is of a flexible, i.e. yielding, at least somewhat resilient, material, e.g. rubber or an elastomeric synthetic plastic, so that the socket 42, if slightly expanded, will exert a constricting force. The socket tapers inwardly away from the face of the doll, the conical angle of taper being comparatively slight, e.g. about 5, although it will be understood that this figure is simply exemplificative. The bottom 44 of the socket is enlarged to an approximately mushroom shape having a diameter exceeding the diameter of the lower end of the conical portion. The head is pierced at the bottom of the socket to form a hole 46 leading from the bottom of the socket to the interior of the head. This hole 46 is reinforced by an eyelet 4% the outspun head 50 of which is located within the socket at the bottom 44 thereof. The eyelet may be made of metal. Said eyelet most conveniently is set into the head after the head has been formed, e.g. by molding or casting. The end of the eyelet remote from the flanged head 50 protrudes from the inner surface of the dolls head to securely engage one end of a flexible conduit 52. The seal between said conduit and the eyelet is tight.

Pursuant to my invention there is provided as a necessary and effective part of the doll llil a hollow vessel 54, desirably in some shape that ordinarily is associated in a childs mind with a doll. More specifically, I prefer to make the vessel 54 in the shape of a bottle like a nursing bottle which a child, through mimicking its mothers action, desires and expects to use by applying to the mouth of the doll. The vessel 54 is made of a flexible self-formmaintaining resilient readily deformable material such as polyethylene so that it can be squeezed with ease by a child. The neck of the bottle is formed to include a nipple or plug 56 which is tightly secured to the bottle. The nipple is provided with a longitudinal bore so that when the bottle is squeezed air will be expelled from the nipple opening. The nipple is tapered to approximately match the taper of the socket 42 and preferably is a little larger in cross-section than the socket so that when inserted fully into the socket it will expand the socket and the socket in turn will constrict about the nipple to grip the same and prevent the leakage of air from between the nipple and socket. Also for the same purpose, the tip of the nipple is formed with a somewhat mushroom shaped bead or protuberance 58 that approximately matches the shape of the bottom 44 of the socket but is slightly larger. Thereby an excellent quickly detachable coupling seal is formed between the nipple and the socket when the two are interengaged and the bore 60 in the nipple then in effect will constitute a concealed passageway connecting the interior of the bottle 54 to the flexible conduit 52 whereby squeezing of the bottle will force compressed air through the conduit 52.

The end of the conduit 52 remote from the eyelet 48 is reinforced by an internal eyelet and is tightly secured to the neck 62 of a thin walled bladder 64 that desirably is constructed to deflate into a flat condition, as illustrated for instance in FIG. 2. Said bladder constitutes the air actuated prime mover. When the bottle 54 is squeezed it will inflate the bladder. Thereby the bladder will bulge out from its original deflated flat shape and the change of shape experienced upon such inflation will, as soon will be seen, be translated into a force for animating the limbs of the doll.

The bladder 64 has its body disposed between the thorax wall 66 of the torso 12 and an action plate 68. The latter may be made of sheet metal and desirably is shaped to approximately match the internal configuration of the front wall of the torso in the region of the bladder so that when the bladder is deflated the action plate will lie closely adjacent said wall being spaced therefrom only, in substance, by the bladder itself so as to insure maximum action upon inflation of the bladder.

Suitable means is included to IIlOllIlllI the action plate for movement toward and away from the thorax wall, e.g. pivotal movement. Simply, this may constitute an extension 70 protruding upwardly (toward the head of the doll) from the action plate and formed with an elementary bearing constituting a pair of transversely registered straps 72 having their side edges struck free of the extension and raised above the same to receive a wire axle 74. The ends of the axle are received in aligned openings 76 in the neck 16 of the dolls torso. To hold the axle in place the tips thereof are turned to lie against the outer surface of said neck, said angled tips being concealed by the lower portion of the head.

The neck of the bladder is held against the action plate as by a pair of gripping fingers 7-8 struck up from the plate and embracing the neck. The reinforcing eyelet in the end of the conduit 52 prevents the fingers from collapsing the conduit or the neck of the bladder.

It now will be apparent that when the bladder is inflated it will move the action plate away from the thorax wall 66 which wall serves as a reaction member for the air actuated prime mover. The resilient means for restoring the action plate to its idle position when the bladder is deflated, this being the position shown in FIG. 2, forms part of the kinematic train (mechanical linkage) now to be described.

Said kinematic train connects the action plate to the limbs. The train includes a leaf spring 88 which in unstressed condition is subdivided into two branches 82, 84 joined by an angle bend 86. The leaf spring is lightly stressed in FIG. 2 being here deflected somewhat rearwardly (toward the back of the doll) from its unstressed condition whereby to maintain a light closing pressure on the action plate when the bladder is deflated. The center of the leaf spring is located between a pair of tabs 88 extending downwardly from a flange 90 at the lower end of the action plate (the ends closest to the legs).

The upper branch :84 of the leaf spring 80 (the branch closest to the head) has permanently secured thereto, as by a rivet 92, a flat transversely elongated crossbar 94, said spring having its outer end juxtaposed against a face of this bar. The opposite ends of the upper crossbar 94 are received in matching slots (not shown) in the heads 28 for the arms 24. Thereby when the action plate is depressed upon inflation of the bladder and if, as soon will be seen, the outer end (tip) of the lower (leg) branch 82 is held in a substantially fixed location although permitted to rotate, the outer end (tip) of the arm branch 84 will be caused to rotate about the axis of rotation of the arms. The rotation can be seen by comparing the idle position of the arm crossbar 94 as shown in FIG. 2 with the actuated position thereof as shown in FIG. 3. In other words, depressing the center of the leaf spring by inflating the bladder will rotate the tip of the arm branch 84 and since this tip is functionally integral with the arm crossbar 94 and furthermore since said crossbar has its ends received in matching slots in arm heads 28, the arms likewise will be turned.

The outer end (tip) of the leg branch 82 of the leaf spring 80 is connected to a transversely elongated leg crossbar 96 which, like the arm crossbar, is flat. However the connection between the leaf spring and the leg crossbar is not a rigid one as was the corresponding connection for the arm crossbar. Rather this leg connection is a loose (lost motion) connection which permits the leg branch 82 to actuate (turn) the legs upon inflation of the bladder, but will not prevent the legs from being turned by direct manipulation thereof from standing to sitting position when the air bladder is idle.

In particular, the connection between the leg branch 82 of the spring and the leg crossbar 96 is effected by forming an opening 98 in the center of the leg crossbar. The tip of the arm branch 82 has a reduced, i.e. slender, extension 100 that passes freely through the opening 98 and is formed with an enlargement 102 located on the opposite side (rear) of the leg crossbar. Said enlargement prevents accidental disengagement of the leg crossbar from the leg branch of the leaf spring.

In the idle position of the action plate, as shown for instance in FIG. 2, the wide outer end of the leg branch rests flatly on the front surface of the leg crossbar 96. When the action plate is depressed upon inflation of the bladder so that the angle bend 86 is urged downwardly, the leg branch 82 will be rotated about an axis in the lower portion of the dolls torso as determined by the leg openings, this axis being the transverse line between the centers of said openings. Inasmuch as the leg branch 82 flatly rests against the leg crossbar 96 such rotation of the branch will in turn rotate said crossbar.

It may be mentioned at this point that rotation of the two branches 82, 84 is induced by actuation of the action plate because the ends of said branches are rotatively captive within the torso being so held by the arms and legs of the doll. In other words, pressure on the bend 86 forces the leaf spring away from the front wall of the doll. However, the ends of the spring are anchored against such a movement but are permitted only to turn in order to accommodate inward movement of the bend. This movement will, of course, stress the spring 80 so that when the pressure of air within the bladder is released, the spring will urge the action plate upwardly to its idle position.

The opposite ends of the leg crossbar 96 are received in diametrical slots 104 one in each of the heads 30 for the legs. These slots have a length in excess of the width of the ends of the leg crossbar 96 so that said crossbar can slide parallel to the lengths of the slots. This relative sliding motion between the legs and crossbar 86 serves a dual function. First, it permits the tip of the leg branch 82 to slide longitudinally of the dolls torso toward the crotch without jamming the action of the spring 80 or the dolls legs. In this connection it will be observed that the arm branch 84 of the leaf spring 80 is rigidly anchored to the rotatable but longitudinally (of the doll) nontranslatable arm crossbar 94. However, when the action plate is depressed the etfective or end-to-end length of the leaf spring increases due to the straightening thereof. This could not take place unless the leg branch 84 were permitted to move downwardly toward the crotch by the overly long slots 104. Second, because each leg 22 turns about an axis that is substantially inclined to the length of the spring 80 and to the length of the leg crossbar 96, relative motion must take place between each leg and the crossbar when the leg turns. This relative motion is permitted by the extra length of the slots 104.

To assemble the doll, the bladder is clasped to the action plate by the gripping finger 78. With the conduit 52 in place in the neck of the bladder the conduit is connected to the eyelet 48. The leaf spring 80 is inserted between the tabs 88 and the action plate, bladder, spring and crossbars are slipped through the neck of the doll into the torso. At this time the axle 74 has not yet been inserted. Next said axle is slipped through the openings 76 and is engaged with the bearing straps 7 72. As part of the same operation, the tips of the axle are bent and the head is connected to the neck 16.

Next, the legs and the arms are inserted in the legs and arm openings, the assembler being careful to align the slots in the arms and legs with the ends of the arm and leg crossbars. The doll now is ready for operation.

The doll is intended to be manipulated as follows:

It is placed in supine position with the legs outstretched. At this time the slots in the arms and legs are so located that the feet are adjacent the supporting surface and the bent arms reach upwardly toward the head but are clear of the mouth as shown by the solid line positions of the arms and legs in FIG. 1. Now the nipple 56 is inserted into the mouth socket 42. The ensuing coupling will automatically provide a tight seal for the reasons already noted. Then the bottle 54 is squeezed. Preferably the volume of the bottle is in excess of the inflated volume of the bladder, for example about three times as great, so that squeezing of the bottle easily inflates the bladder. This in turn will depress the action plate and the angle bend 86. As the angle bend is moved toward the back of the doll it will cause the arm and leg crossbars 94, 96 to rotate thereby turning the arms down and turning the legs up. The extreme actuated positions of the arms and legs are shown in dot-and-dash lines in FIG. 1. It is not necessary to fully actuate the arms and legs, small motions sometimes will be preferred.

It is interesting to note that because the arms are shorter and of less Weight than the legs and the legs are not tightly fastened to the springs through the crossbar, I achieve an erratic action, i.e., the arms may operate out of unison with the legs. In addition, the arms alone can be operated when the doll is in sitting position. In short, the arms pulsate regularly with the squeezing of the bottle and the legs may move up and hold, then fall, etc.

Attention is called to the fact that due to the inclusion of the spring 80 in the mechanical linkage interconnecting the bladder and the limbs the movement of the limbs is not directly tied to the bladder but rather is somewhat resilient so that when the action plate is stopped at any position, the limbs will move slightly further and then swing back slightly, i.e. oscillate over a small arc of excursion, thus lending a very humanistic appearance to the animated movement of the doll.

The spring 86 should not be so light that the arms and legs can gyrate under slight vibrations nor should it be so stilf that a quiver will not even be noticeable. Said spring should be sufficiently flexible to permit an excursion of a few degrees of the arms and legs when the action plate is stopped in any position by causing the bottle to maintain some shape, e.g. unsqueezed, partially squeezed, or squeezed enough to swing the action plate as far as it can go.

It thus will be seen that I have provided a doll in which I achieve the several objects of this invention and which is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use. As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. An animated doll comprising a hollow body, a leg having a closed end within the body, means journalling said leg to said body for rotation about an inclined axis, said closed end having a slot therein, a socket exposed to the exterior of the body, an air actuatable prime mover located within the body, a conduit pneumatically connecting the prime mover to the socket, a kinematic linkage mechanically energized by the prime mover, said kinematic linkage terminating in a rotatable flat end freely slidably disposed in the slot, the length of the slot being appreciably in excess of the width of the flat end, a deformable flexible resilient vessel having a plug with an opening therein, said plug being shaped for sealing detachable coupling with said socket whereby when the plug is coupled to the socket and the vessel is squeezed the air actuated prime mover will be energized to rotate the leg.

2. An animated doll comprising a hollow body, arms and legs, means journalling said arms and legs to said body, a head connected to said body, said head having a portion thereof in the shape of a mouth, said mouth including a socket exposed to the exterior of the body, an air bladder located within the body, a conduit pneumatically connecting the bladder to the socket, an action plate within the body, means pivotally connecting the action plate to the body, said bladder being disposed between the action plate and an internal surface of the body, an angled leaf spring, means fixing one end of said spring to the arms, means slidably connecting the other end of the spring to the legs, the intermediate portion of said spring being engaged by the action plate so that when the action plate is swung by inflation of the bladder the angle of the spring is increased whereby to rotate the arms and legs, a deformable flexible resilient vessel having a plug with an opening therein, said plug being shaped for sealing detachable coupling with said socket whereby when the plug is coupled to the socket and the vessel is squeezed the air bladder will be inflated to move the arms and legs of the doll.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,859,268 Larson May 17, 1932 FOREIGN PATENTS 13,454 Great Britain 1889 361,641 France July 23, 1906

Claims (1)

1. AN ANIMATED DOLL COMPRISING A HOLLOW BODY, A LEG HAVING A CLOSED END WITHIN THE BODY, MEANS JOURNALLING SAID LEG TO SAID BODY FOR ROTATION ABOUT AN INCLINED AXIS, SAID CLOSED END HAVING A SLOT THEREIN, A SOCKET EXPOSED TO THE EXTERIOR OF THE BODY, AN AIR ACTUATABLE PRIME MOVER LOCATED WITHIN THE BODY, A CONDUIT PNEUMATICALLY CONNECTING THE PRIME MOVER TO THE SOCKET, A KINEMATIC LINKAGE MECHANICALLY ENERGIZED BY THE PRIME MOVER, SAID KINEMATIC LINKAGE TERMINATING IN A ROTATABLE FLAT END FREELY SLIDABLY DISPOSED IN THE SLOT, THE LENGTH OF THE SLOT BEING APPRECIABLY IN EXCESS OF THE WIDTH OF THE FLAT END, A DEFORMABLE FLEXIBLE RESILIENT VESSEL HAVING A PLUG WITH AN OPENING THEREIN, SAID PLUG BEING SHAPED FOR SEALING DETACHABLE COUPLING WITH SAID SOCKET WHEREBY WHEN THE PLUG IS COUPLED TO THE SOCKET AND THE VESSEL IS SQUEEZED THE AIR ACTUATED PRIME MOVER WILL BE ENERGIZED TO ROTATE THE LEG.

Images